The New Zealander may have won the Commonwealth 1500m title, set a new national record for the distance and finished third in the season-ending IAAF World Cup in Athens this year, but he achieved only one of his three targets this summer and demands more.

“My aim was to be ranked in the top ten in the world, reach the Grand Prix Final and finish in the top three in the World Cup and I only achieved one of those goals,” he explained. “I ran well in Athens and Paris and I thought it would act as a launching pad for the season but I returned to the US during the European Championships and I was probably a bit ill-disciplined with my eating and stretching. I put on a couple of pounds and for three of four races I really struggled before I ran well in the World Cup and in the Fifth Avenue Mile (he finished second) where I probably had my best race of the season.”